Bestselling author Michael Gates Gill discusses his new book How to Save Your Own Life: 15 Lessons on Finding Hope in Unexpected Places on Tuesday, January 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

In How to Save Your Own Life, Gill demonstrates that it is possible to make a leap to a better life at any point, regardless of your age, career path or family situation. At a time when an increasing number of companies are eliminating jobs, many people do not have a choice about whether or not to make a career change, but Gill explains how people can not only make the best of a bad situation but often find a job that is more enjoyable and more fulfilling than they ever could have imagined.

When corporate downsizing cost Michael Gates Gill his job as a top advertising agency executive, it was only the beginning of the roughest period of his life. His marriage fell apart. His own business collapsed. And he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He had no health insurance and no job offers when he met a young African-American Starbucks manager named Crystal who offered him a much-needed job and hope for the future. Gill chronicled that experience in his first book, How Starbucks Saved My Life.

Copies of How to Save Your Own Life will be available for sale, and Gill will sign copies purchased during the event.